image

[im-ij]

noun

a physical likeness or representation of a person, animal, or thing, photographed, painted, sculptured, or otherwise made visible.

an optical counterpart or appearance of an object, as is produced by reflection from a mirror, refraction by a lens, or the passage of luminous rays through a small aperture and their reception on a surface.

Synonyms for image

1, 12. Image,icon,idol refer to material representations of persons or things. An image is a representation as in a statue or effigy, and is sometimes regarded as an object of worship: to set up an image of Apollo; an image of a saint. An icon, in the Greek or Eastern Orthodox Church, is a representation of Christ, an angel, or a saint, in painting, relief, mosaic, or the like: At least two icons are found in each church. An idol is an image, statue, or the like representing a deity and worshiped as such: a wooden idol; The heathen worship idols. It may be used figuratively: to make an idol of wealth.2. likeness, figure, representation. 3. notion. 6. facsimile.

Meaning "reflection in a mirror" is early 14c. The mental sense was in Latin, and appears in English late 14c. Sense of "public impression" is attested in isolated cases from 1908 but not in common use until its rise in the jargon of advertising and public relations, c.1958.

image

v.

late 14c., "to form a mental picture," from Old French imagier, from image (see image (n.)). Related: Imaged; imaging.